Once everyone was gone, the whole kitchen fell silent. Arianna’s eyes were staring holes on Gabrielle, but the little girl was shying away from her gaze… the worst part is that Gabi didn’t even know why she was so nervous, suddenly feeling so insecure around one of the two Sisters she had come to really trust. By all means, she should be already blabbering about all that had happened last night! There was so much to say, so much to prepare for!

And yet here she was, looking away, fearing the moment she’ll have to eventually face Arianna properly.

What is wrong with me now…?

After waiting a good while for the girl to look at her on her own accord, Sister Arianna rolled her eyes, cleared her throat, and raised her voice.

“Gabrielle. What exactly happened here?”

The little girl flinched once, looking even further away from the nun. So that’s what it was all about this fight wasn’t it? A little spot in Gabi’s mind was already chastising her for getting in a fight, and yet the overwhelming majority in the girl’s brain was absolutely unapologetic. And so…

“They were mocking me.” Gabrielle answered, as matter-of-factly as usual but without her iconic unblinking gaze, arms folded as a form of subconscious defense.

“They mock you a lot, but you never reacted like this before… did something special happen this time?” Arianna’s voice did not sound nagging, at least not yet, and that gave the little girl some hope.

So she slowly dared to look her in the eye. The nun’s face had become much clearer than the last time they spoke, and that only made the disappointed look in her eyes even harder to bear.

“They threw things at me… a-and… and…” The things she could understand, but the fact that one of them actually touched her– For some reason, that was far beyond anything Gabrielle could endure. “One of them took my habit.”

The little girl confessed it as if it had been some sort of terrible crime, and yet Arianna did not seem impressed in the slightest. Gabrielle could not read that expression on her face, but to anyone who could see it, they could probably see a “And that’s it?” kind of grimace.

“... Alright, so they attacked you. I guess that was coming.” The nun chose to believe they had punched her, or at least shoved her, in the process of taking her habit. “It’s okay to defend yourself when attacked, Gabi.”

See!? I told you it was fine!!, yelled Gabrielle’s brain in celebration of its unexpected victory.

“But.”

Ah, damn it!, Gabrielle flinched as her brain once again abandoned her. Here it comes, pottymouth.

“You can’t just start biting and kicking someone on the ground!” Arianna said, now full on nagging mode, “That’s no longer defending yourself, that’s outright attacking someone else!”

The little girl frowned slightly, standing a bit more straight and actually confronting Arianna’s gaze, as her heart fueled her with a feeling that brightly burnt for the first time in as long as Gabi could remember: righteous indignation.

“They attacked me and I attacked back, isn’t that how things work? They do it all the time!”

Now it was Arianna who flinched. She couldn’t simply deny something that she had to see every single day, not to even mention the experiments OR the neglect from the Sisters. How could she be surprised by this now? Of course the girl had so much pent up anger that not even she noticed it.

Still, it’s not a reason to be a damn savage, thought the nun while rubbing the back of her neck. How to tell that to this girl though?

“Gabrielle, they call you a Witch because they are scared of you–”

“And what if I am a Witch!?” There. She said it. Gabrielle was feeling more and more determined by the second. “No one even knows what that means!”

Worst part is that she’s not exactly wrong, mumbled the nun’s brain while she took a little step back, only to stand right up to Gabrielle again. No. She was NOT going to be lectured by a kid!

“Do you know what it means to be a Witch then, Gabrielle??”

“No. But I can make it up if I want!” The little girl felt like she was on fire right then, and for some reason it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. “I can be a Good Witch!”

“And a Good Witch beats people up and bites them?”

“...Well…” Gabi flinched again, feeling the words pour down on her like a bucket of cold water. “Well, maybe not but–”

“But nothing. Did the Saints bite and hit people that didn’t attack them first?”

“Saint Martha tamed a dragon!”

“Yes, but the dragon was killing and attacking people first! She didn’t attack unprovoked or caused pain for no reason!!”

Arianna was growing more and more surprised by the second. Not only was Gabrielle talking back, but she was also pouting now that the tides of the conversation were changing! She had stakes in a conversation! The nun wasn’t sure if she should feel afraid or proud.

“Gabi… you want them to start accepting you, yes?” Arianna continued, waiting for the pouty girl to nod. “Then you must show them that they’ve got nothing to fear in you. Every time you explode like this you only confirm their suspicions that you are dangerous, and evil! Would you like it if someone you like looked at you like that, too?”

All cogs in Gabrielle’s brain stopped at once. That was a fantastic point, what if Baraqiel heard of this? Her one and only friend, looking at her like a sort of dangerous animal and just walking away to ignore her, just like everyone else. The panic pushed its way through the girl’s veins like ice-cold water.

For a second, Gabrielle was right about to shout “PLEASE DON’T TELL THEM!!” before she had to cover her mouth and choke on a little sob. No. She couldn’t tell the Sister about Baraqiel just now, where everyone could listen! Calm down, calm down…

“I… I understand.”

The redheaded girl took a deep breath, carefully picking up her habit and setting it upon her head again. Arianna gave the little Gabi some time, waiting for her to properly fix it and talk out of her own volition; and eventually she did.

“Then I must endure it all. I have to be a rock, unfeeling.” Gabrielle nodded twice. “Like Mustafá, I will just endure it all and they will stop bothering me.”

Mustafá. Now that was a new name! Arianna noted it mentally as something she had to ask later.

The list of things I have to talk to this kid just gets longer!

“Gabi, no. Just because you won't jump on them like a rabid animal doesn’t mean that you won't defend yourself. And stop with the whole ‘unfeeling’ deal, it is not good for you.” As Ari spoke, Gabrielle looked at her own hands. “You need to defend yourself, and you need to make others know how you feel… that’s how you fix things, and that’s how others know you are a person, just like them.”

Arianna raised her hand and very, very carefully placed it upon Gabrielle’s head. The girl flinched first, but relaxed slowly when remembering who owned that warm hand that slowly caressed her head– stress seemed to evaporate from her body as Arianna simply patted her a few times.

“I know it will take some time, but you will learn Gabi. Just, do your best okay? Trust me on this one.”

“...I will try.” Gabrielle finally said, feeling little tears starting to flow from her eyes. She was quick to clean them, unsure why they came out to begin with.

“Good… now, can you come with me? I just, well. I need to talk to you about something more important.”

As Arianna made her way to the kitchen’s exit, Gabrielle whispered.

“As a matter of fact… I want to talk to you about something too, Sister.”

—

Things followed a certain rhythm after a big brawl: people cried, yelled, there were some hurt feelings here and there, and then the Sisters would come in, interrupt it all and force both parties to shake hands and say “I’m Sorry”. Were the parties really sorry, though? No one knew! Usually they weren’t, and that afternoon Samantha was certainly not sorry at all!

But Gabrielle was. One could see it in her crying, begging eyes.

“I am so sorry… I… I am really sorry, I didn’t mean to. I…”

She choked, shivered and sniffled, trying to explain but being unable to. Adults have problems coming to terms with their emotional outbursts, so of course a little girl couldn’t even comprehend the concept itself.

In Samantha’s blurry face, Gabi saw a couple of eyes looking back at her, and in those eyes she saw Baraqiel as well. What if Baraqiel was hurt too, what if they decided they were weird or evil? She didn’t want to lose her only friend for this…

There was something in that pitiful, swollen face and reddened eyes that shook something in Samantha’s heart. She was not a monster, after all. None of the kids truly were! She couldn’t simply look at a crying person and then pretend nothing was wrong, in fact she even felt like crying a bit too!

But no. No crying in front of the Witch!

“Yes. I am sorry too, Gabrielle.”

“Thank you Samantha…”

Ah, the pout, the trembling smile…

It was a shame that Gabrielle couldn’t really appreciate the flustered look on Samantha's face when the redhead thanked her for all the forgiveness, or she couldn’t hear the blond’s mumbles about the “wicked allures of a witch”. To Gabi, they simply shook hands, and then she looked as the blonde simply walked away.

To Samantha, this whole ordeal had struck an interesting cord in her heart, playing a tune that she didn’t expect to hear from a Witch.

She is not that bad, is she?, wondered Samantha as she disappeared behind the Church’s door. Maybe she’s a little cute…

Afterward, both Sisters took Gabrielle to the shed on the outside. Alejandra looked around with shifty eyes before carefully closing the doors behind her. They couldn’t have prying ears now, after all!

“We’re safe, comrade.” Alejandra nodded.

“Thanks, comrade.” Arianna nodded back before looking back at their charge. “Okay, Gabrielle. I need to talk to you about last night.”

The little girl gasped.”The always more sympathetic Alejandra stated as soon as she noticed a glimmer of fear in Gabrielle's eyes.

“You are not in trouble! We’re on your side!” Gabi sighed in relief at Alejandra’s reassurance. “But we need your help, Gabi. So please be honest with us, okay?”

Ari smiled a little bit, quietly thanking the saints that she had gotten some help here. As well-intentioned as she was, Arianna was not exactly good with kids (or people in general) so the help was truly a gift from the heavens.

A gift with a bit of a problem knowing when to stop talking.

“We need your help to get Father Enrico down! To stop his stupid experiments!” Alejandra announced, proud of herself, before Arianna had to shove her slightly with her elbow. “Ow! What’s that for!?”

“Alejandra PLEASE, one thing at a time!” The one thing they didn’t need right then was for Gabrielle to develop too much content for adults too fast, and Arianna knew that.

“Then you know what he does.” Gabrielle prodded, tentatively. “What he did to Baraqiel, what he is doing to everyone… why is he even doing this? What does he gain with making Angels?”

Both nuns looked at each other for a second. Angels? It was clear that Gabi’s understanding of the whole deal was still more than imperfect, but Arianna felt like this would be far, far preferable. After all, if she was deep in a sort of religious delusion, it was more probable that the Genesis would disregard her instead of taking her away.

So, she decided to simply grab that little misunderstanding, and make it mostly correct. Arianna kneeled in front of the little girl, and put her hands on Gabi’s shoulders.

“Gabrielle… this is very important. He must never get ahold of Baraqiel again, so we must keep him hidden until the Church Inquisitors arrive.” Gabrielle seemed like she was about to panic again, so with a sign from Alejandra she added. “They will only take him, everyone else is safe. No burning, no staking, nothing. Those are just baseless legends.”

Lies were so much more comfortable than the barbaric truth, but Arianna was clinging to the possibility of a peaceful resolution despite how unlikely it was.

“Gabi… Father Enrico is trying to become a Demiurge. Remember when I told you about it? A bad word?” Gabrielle nodded gently, and Arianna took a deep breath. “... A Demiurge is a terrible thing, a thief of magic. It’s a name that people who think are Great Mages use to compare themselves to the Creator.”

The three women instinctively marked a T on their foreheads. The Creator, a presence above the Saints, humanity and the whole world, was a concept that could not and should not be spoken about in vain. Its feats were to be admired from a distance, through the actions of its surrogates (like Saints, Angels and the like), for it was said that to even mention the word without care could burn one’s tongue.

And yet here they were, conspiring, speaking of it. Gabrielle started feeling the weight of the situation.

“He is absolutely insane. But now, we have proof to stop him before it is too late!” Alejandra pumped her fists together. “With Baraqiel as our witness, that man is screwed!”

“Pottymouth.” Gabi was quick to point out.

“Sorry.”

“But I don’t understand! Magic is not a thing anymore! Adella was a demihuman and it took her a LOT of effort to use it on me!” Both nuns looked at Gabrielle and then at each other, concerned. They did, however, let the girl finish her thought. “Magic is a bad thing, right? That’s why The Creator–”, another pause to sign themselves, “had to take it away from us! Right??”

That last question floated in the air for a good while, in the middle of an awkward silence. Now both Gabrielle and Alejandra were staring at Arianna and she was utterly cornered. There was no avoiding the topic of magic anymore. Or was there a way to postpone it…?

I am NOT explaining this now!!

“Magic is complicated, and no one really knows why it simply disappeared one day.” She admitted, both lying and yet not knowing the full answer herself. This helped her feel a bit less guilty. “But it doesn’t matter! This changes nothing, we need to stop this man before he kills us all in pursuit of his stupid dream.”

The nun took a moment to try and process her next words properly. It was the important bit, the great reveal and, also, the crime for which this man had been sacrificing so many things and people: the manic wish of all Demiurges. Arianna wasn’t really sure where did Gabrielle end up with the Angel idea, but now that they were there, she was going to use that image as much as she could.

Honestly, it made explaining things a bit easier.

“Father Enrico wants to become an ‘Angel’ himself. And he will sacrifice as many people as he can to achieve it. ”